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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nonlethal Force" data-source="post: 2813861" data-attributes="member: 35788">Just outside the Cachinnating Roadhouse, Semeion approached the door.  The chill in the air caused him to pull his cloak tightly around his form so that only his nose peeked out and left a small hole through which his eyes could watch the ground.  His protruding nose caught a whiff of Archis’ famed potatoes and he breathed in deeply to inhale the scent.  His pace quickened a bit as he hurried to the door.Semeion easily opened the door just enough to slip inside and then he allowed the door to close as quickly as possible.  It was his first time in this place; his master forbade his attendance by using the explanation that ale was a bad drink to mix with arcane talents.  With the acceptance of the unlimited power of the arcane came the responsibility of always keeping oneself in control.  It was bad enough when a sword wielding fighter got drunk.  People were at risk of being injured in such a case.  But when an arcanist should lose control of his responsibility the world was potentially at risk.  Semeion hesitated by the door just long enough to take in the room.  Archis noticed him hanging out by the door and invited him in further.  “Pull back your hood and pull up a chair at the bar, friend.  Come in away from the door and you’ll warm up soon enough.  Put some of my potatoes in your belly and top it with a little ale and you’ll find yourself refreshed in a hurry.”  The tall gnome smiled as he flashed his hand toward Semeion with a gesture that indicated an invitation.Ischarus smiled as Semeion pulled back his hood.  The semi-lost expression on Semeion’s face revealed to Ischarus that he wasn’t altogether familiar with taverns and roadhouses.  Rhema wrinkled her eyebrows as if to ask Ischarus what had caught his attention behind her.  Ischarus smiled and nodded in Semeion’s direction.  Rhema turned slightly and gazed at Semeion out of the corner of her eye as the newcomer pulled the hood of his cloak back.  She turned her head back to Ischarus and scooped up another fork full of potatoes.  Before she ate them she added, “Aw, he’s a cute one.  I bet he’s never been in here before, though.”Ischarus chuckled again.  “Is there any guy you don’t find attractive, Rhema?”Rhema smirked as she chewed and after she swallowed she added, “Besides you, Ischarus?  I can’t think of anyone.  Even Archis is cute in a gnome sort of way.  I just like people, you know that.”  Ischarus only smiled in response.Semeion took the gnome’s advice and stepped towards the bar.  Only once he had committed himself to sitting at the bar did he notice that all those at the bar were already staring at him.  Desiring to not draw any more attention to himself than he already had Semeion hurried to the bar and took the first open seat.  The burly man who was already seated beside him said, “Gronk won’t like you when he returns, kid.”Semeion turned to the man and stopped for a moment to observe the speaker who had greeted him in such a gruff manner.  Semeion took in the throwing axe strapped to each leg, the battle axe hung from the man’s belt, and the great sword strapped to his back.  It didn’t take much for Semeion to realize this man was far out of his league.  As Semeion looked to the man’s face he realized the gruff man must have had some orcish blood in his family.  His forehead was large and blunt and he had an enormous yet flat nose that flared with each breath.  His bottom canine teeth extended up from his lower jaw and stuck out enough to trap his upper lip when his mouth was closed.  Semeion seriously considered leaving without even offering a simply reply.Naturally, before Semeion could make up his mind about leaving a large hand grabbed him from behind and lifted him from the bar seat.  “You in my chair, boy.  You best not have drunk my ale.”  The man who had originally spoken to Semeion continued to look straight ahead over the top of the bar as he addressed the young mage.  “I see you’ve now met my brother Gronk.  I warned you to move.”Archis quickly stepped up and spoke to the orc-blooded brothers, “Listen here Gronk and Frak.  I’ll not have trouble in the Roadhouse tonight.  Especially against someone who’s not been here before.  This ain’t no way to treat a new customer and for my sake I expect you to put him down.”Before Gronk or Frak could reply, a sweet voice originated from directly behind Gronk.  “You’ll let the boy down onto the stool and release him.  You’re going to let him come and sit at our table so he can leave you and your brother alone for the rest of the night.  That way, you can enjoy your potatoes and ale and forget this ever happened.”  The voice was soothing in its slow and convincing speech.Gronk did as the voice said.  He released Semeion back to the seat on the stool.  Semeion quickly scrambled off of the seat as Gronk turned to face his challenger.  Semeion and Gronk both saw Rhema for the first time as she boldly stood less than 3 feet from the much taller Gronk.  The massive orc-blooded man dwarfed the delicately framed Rhema.Gronk rejected Rhema out of hand immediately upon seeing her.  “Bah.  What do you think you were going to be able to do to me, woman?  I should throw you outside just for interrupting my fun.”Semeion attempted to prepare himself to recall his arcane powers should this situation turn ugly.  Ischarus, however, remained seated at the table and snuck a few of Rhema’s potatoes while she was otherwise distracted.  He smirked at the orc-blooded man’s challenge.Rhema smiled once more and her delicate lips parted slightly as she prepared to speak.  “Listen, Gronk.  We’re all here to just enjoy ourselves and enjoy a good meal.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be eating some of Archis’ potatoes right now than being involved in this little altercation.”  Her voice remained calm in spite of the obvious physical treat.Gronk sneered at the smaller woman and his left hand reached for the axe on his side.  Rhema lifted her index finger to her temple and Gronk immediately dropped to his knees well before he could securely reach his weapon.  As Rhema focused in on Gronk, the half-orc man cried out after being brought to his knees.  “Stop, lady!  Gronk just want have fun with lady.  Gronk not really hurt lady.”Rhema smiled.  “I thought you would see it my way,” she said as she removed her finger from her temple.  “Now stand up like the good fighter than you are.  Turn around and sit down onto the stool.  Enjoy those potatoes and that ale of yours.  Most importantly, forget that this ever happened.”Gronk wordlessly obeyed Rhema’s commands, appearing as if he feared another one of the woman’s silent attacks.  Rhema reached out a welcoming hand to Semeion and said, “Hey, why don’t you come over here and join my friend and myself.  You can sit with us and tell us a little bit about yourself.”Semeion returned Rhema’s smile and replied, “You know, I think I’d like that.  This is my first time being in here, if you couldn’t tell.”Rhema closed her fingers around Semeion’s hand and led him back to the table.  “Really,” she replied as though she hadn’t considered the fact that Semeion appeared out of his normal routine,  “I would have never noticed myself.”As Semeion approached the table, Ischarus got a better look at the young mage and smiled as he approached.  “Welcome, friend.” He added, forgetting that Rhema’s fork was still in his hand.“Hey!” interjected Rhema.  “You were eating my potatoes while I was helping this poor lad try and find a place to sit.  I can’t believe you are that kind of an opportunist.”  Rhema’s speech took on a slightly fake wounded tone as she winked at Semeion.Ischarus rose up out of his seat and reached across the table to put his hand on her shoulder.  “It’s alright; I’ll go get another plate for our guest, here.  I’m sure that he might enjoy the food and I bet he’d be willing to share.  You know, unlike some people I know.  Besides, I think that I owe him a plate of potatoes.”  Ischarus played with Rhema's mind as his eyes danced in a slight eye roll.Rhema only laughed in return.  “You do that, you noble man.  Go get food for your guest and when you come back perhaps he will grace us with his tale.”  She turned and looked into Semeion’s eyes.Ischarus returned quickly with a plate of potatoes and a glass of water with lime in it.  Semeion readily accepted the plate of potatoes and chuckled to himself when he received the glass of water with lime.  The chuckle inspired Ischarus to inquire about the response from Semeion.  “Inside joke you’d care to let us in on?” Ischarus added a friendly smile as he inquired of Semeion’s chuckle.Semeion shook his head from side to side as he stuffed a potato into his mouth.  “No, no secret, really.  Just something someone I knew used to say to me.  He would always advise against me getting ale to drink.  He said it was a bad combination with being able to think straight and maintain control.”Ischarus replied with a wink to Rhema.  “Sound advice if you ask me.  I know my friend here won’t let me touch the stuff either.”  Ischarus left a wink for Rhema; Rhema merely rolled her eyes at the gesture and the remark.Rhema replied, “Don’t let Ischarus kid you.  He wouldn’t touch the stuff even if you put it right in front of him.  He doesn’t care for the taste if you ask me.  But if you ask him it is a control issue.  He doesn’t like to carry a sword that’s able to separate a person’s head from their shoulders and not be in control of his decision making at all times.”Semeion looked to Ischarus and then quickly back to the potatoes.  Lifting the glass of water with the lime in it he adds, “Yeah.  Sounds a lot like my master’s advice.”  Semeion’s tone took on a sorrowful tone with this last expression.Rhema picked up on the tone and continued, “I’m Rhema, by the way.  Good to meet you.  If you don’t mind me asking I noticed a bit of hurt in that tone of yours when you talk about your master.  You mind if I ask why?”Semeion chocked back the emotion as he tried to relay the story of his master’s tragic demise.  As part of the story, Semeion told about how he came back into town, almost caused an accident, and visited his master’s widow just before coming to the Cachinnating Roadhouse.  A sheepish grin crossed over Ischarus’ face as Semeion talked.  After telling the story Semeion looked at Ischarus and could feel his inner turmoil being eased merely by telling the story.  Inquiring of the sheepish grin Semeion asked, “What’s so funny?”Semeion couldn’t help but laugh a little bit over Ischarus’ silly grin.  His body relished the brief opportunity to laugh after the last two days of pain.  Ischarus replied, “Well, I thought when I first saw you that I owed you a plate of potatoes.”Semeion looked to Ischarus and laughed a couple more times and replied, “What do you mean?”  Rhema seconded Semeion’s inquiry with an inquisitive look of her own.“Well,” continued Ischarus while looking to Rhema.  “Remember when I returned to the stables and said I was delayed on my trip home because I nearly was run over by a carriage and in the process of steering Elistra away I nearly ran over a cloaked person?  Well, I believe our cloaked person has found me in return!”Semeion couldn’t believe his ears.  He looked down to his plate of potatoes in sheer embarrassment.  Ischarus and Rhema both noticed his body language and Rhema replied, “Hey, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”  Ischarus added, “Indeed.  If anyone should be embarrassed it should be me for nearly running Elistra into you!”Semeion looked up and shook his head.  “You two are amazing.  I embarrass myself in front of each of you and you make a point to make me feel better.”  A slight smile returned to his face as he spoke.Rhema reached out with her delicate fingers and lifted his chin so that she looked straight into his eyes.  “Now you listen to me, Semeion.  You’ve nothing to apologize for.  You’ve lost your master and had a lot on your mind.  I’m actually impressed with your behavior and think it has been incredibly mature.  In all actuality, I think your master was right in that you were ready to strike out on your own.”Her confidence seemed to stream from her eyes as well as through her touch and into his body.  “Thanks,” was all that Semeion could muster.Ischarus grinned with a bright idea.  “In fact, if you’ve got nothing else to fill your time, I think we could use a person of your type on our quests.  We could use a person with your talents.  You know how to ride well?”Semeion replied, “Well, I do know how to ride but it’s been a while.  Unfortunately I don’t have a horse of my own.  But I might be interested in finding something new to occupy my time.  What is it that you guys do with your time?”Rhema smiled and turned to Ischarus and replied, “I’ll let you handle this.”Ischarus looked into Semeion’s eyes and added with a straight face.  “We traffic women across the border out of Quehalost and into Tongra.”Semeion responded in complete surprise.  “You go into Quehalost?  By yourselves?”  After a few moments Semeion’s expression turned to utter confusion and he added, “You traffic women?”Rhema burst out into laughter and Ischarus began to chuckle as well.  “Technically we traffic women, children, and men across the border.  We don’t really care about age or gender.  You see, there are many people trapped within that evil land that simply do not know anything but pain, torture, abuse, and physical labor through slavery.  It’s my job to go in and bring people out into freedom.  I’ve been doing it for about two years now.  Rhema here has been my assistant for almost all of that time.”Rhema interjected, “Yeah, my dad operated one of the safe houses that Ischarus brought his freed passengers to.  My dad helps them learn a new culture and find employment so that they can stand on their own feet.  When Ischarus brought his first rescue back it was a beautiful red haired Drakontos girl who was to be a sacrifice to the ancient wyrm that they served.  It took a long time to break her of her belief that she could be anything but a sacrifice so that the dragon wouldn’t destroy their village.  It took several months, but my dad and I did it.  I learned that I have a real passion for dealing with people – in more ways than one.  I like helping people and building them up.  So when Ischarus returned a second time with two men that he had saved I volunteered to join him.  He knew about my gifts and admitted that while I was a bit on the frail side that my silver tongue would really make his work easier.  Since then we’ve been partners.  He swore to my father to protect me, but I end up saving more often than not.”Ischarus looked at Rhema with a look that spoke more than simple appreciation while she told her story.  After a few seconds he realized Rhema stopped talking and he brought himself back into reality.  He picked up the conversation where Rhema had left off.  “Ah, yeah.  You’ll notice that I didn’t bother getting up to protect her from that half-orc over there.  Rhema doesn’t look like much, but if she can get into your mind before you can draw a weapon she’ll win every time.  She didn’t need my protection, though I’d have generously offered it.”Semeion looked at Ischarus and then back to Rhema.  “You guys are serious?  You venture into Quehalost regularly and return alive?  Wow, that’s amazing.  And to think of putting your talents to good use like that.  I think I could definitely be interested in helping you all out.  If you’ll have me, that is.  Well, I’d at least like to go along once and see what happens.”Ischarus put his hand on Semeion’s shoulder.  “Well, Rhema and I were going to head out of town for Quehalost tomorrow morning.  I think we could afford to stay in town for another day to let you think things through and give you a chance to think about it.  We’d need to find you a horse, but that wouldn’t be much trouble.  You got any money, Semeion?”“I have a little.  Probably not enough to buy a horse, though.  But I can pay my own nights and meals and stuff.”  Semeion’s excited tone illustrated that he began to think highly of this possibility.  He longed to set his life in a new direction given that his life in Reignsburg had just lost momentum.  This would be a new direction and a chance to do something good in his life.  This would be a way to make Master Sathwright’s death have meaning.  Semeion made up his mind.  He would ride with them if he could find a horse.“I’ll … uh.  I’ll think about it.” Semeion said with a smile on his face.  “Can I meet you here for lunch tomorrow and let you know for sure?”Rhema let out a little squeal of delight.  Ischarus rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “Lunch will be fine.  Just in case I’ll talk to the stable master where we board Elistra and Shauvry and see if he knows of a few horses we might go look at come tomorrow afternoon.  You know, of course, if you’re still interested.”Semeion said, “Yeah.  I think that should work.  I’ll let you know tomorrow then.”  A broad smile crossed his face as he finished the last of his potatoes.  He looked down as his fork scraped across the metal plate.  “Oh.  It looks like I didn’t leave any to share,” Semeion confided.Rhema laughed.  “That’s all right.  I’m sure you can pay us back sometime.”  Rhema winked at Semeion and leaned back in her chair with a contented look upon her face.  The three sat around the table for another hour talking about the past adventures of Rhema and Ischarus before returning to their homes for the night.[Sblock=Color Free Speech Section]Just outside the Cachinnating Roadhouse, Semeion approached the door. The chill in the air caused him to pull his cloak tightly around his form so that only his nose peeked out and left a small hole through which his eyes could watch the ground. His protruding nose caught a whiff of Archis’ famed potatoes and he breathed in deeply to inhale the scent. His pace quickened a bit as he hurried to the door.Semeion easily opened the door just enough to slip inside and then he allowed the door to close as quickly as possible. It was his first time in this place; his master forbade his attendance by using the explanation that ale was a bad drink to mix with arcane talents. With the acceptance of the unlimited power of the arcane came the responsibility of always keeping oneself in control. It was bad enough when a sword wielding fighter got drunk. People were at risk of being injured in such a case. But when an arcanist should lose control of his responsibility the world was potentially at risk. Semeion hesitated by the door just long enough to take in the room. Archis noticed him hanging out by the door and invited him in further. “Pull back your hood and pull up a chair at the bar, friend. Come in away from the door and you’ll warm up soon enough. Put some of my potatoes in your belly and top it with a little ale and you’ll find yourself refreshed in a hurry.” The tall gnome smiled as he flashed his hand toward Semeion with a gesture that indicated an invitation.Ischarus smiled as Semeion pulled back his hood. The semi-lost expression on Semeion’s face revealed to Ischarus that he wasn’t altogether familiar with taverns and roadhouses. Rhema wrinkled her eyebrows as if to ask Ischarus what had caught his attention behind her. Ischarus smiled and nodded in Semeion’s direction. Rhema turned slightly and gazed at Semeion out of the corner of her eye as the newcomer pulled the hood of his cloak back. She turned her head back to Ischarus and scooped up another fork full of potatoes. Before she ate them she added, “Aw, he’s a cute one. I bet he’s never been in here before, though.”Ischarus chuckled again. “Is there any guy you don’t find attractive, Rhema?”Rhema smirked as she chewed and after she swallowed she added, “Besides you, Ischarus? I can’t think of anyone. Even Archis is cute in a gnome sort of way. I just like people, you know that.” Ischarus only smiled in response.Semeion took the gnome’s advice and stepped towards the bar. Only once he had committed himself to sitting at the bar did he notice that all those at the bar were already staring at him. Desiring to not draw any more attention to himself than he already had Semeion hurried to the bar and took the first open seat. The burly man who was already seated beside him said, “Gronk won’t like you when he returns, kid.”Semeion turned to the man and stopped for a moment to observe the speaker who had greeted him in such a gruff manner. Semeion took in the throwing axe strapped to each leg, the battle axe hung from the man’s belt, and the great sword strapped to his back. It didn’t take much for Semeion to realize this man was far out of his league. As Semeion looked to the man’s face he realized the gruff man must have had some orcish blood in his family. His forehead was large and blunt and he had an enormous yet flat nose that flared with each breath. His bottom canine teeth extended up from his lower jaw and stuck out enough to trap his upper lip when his mouth was closed. Semeion seriously considered leaving without even offering a simply reply.Naturally, before Semeion could make up his mind about leaving a large hand grabbed him from behind and lifted him from the bar seat. “You in my chair, boy. You best not have drunk my ale.” The man who had originally spoken to Semeion continued to look straight ahead over the top of the bar as he addressed the young mage. “I see you’ve now met my brother Gronk. I warned you to move.”Archis quickly stepped up and spoke to the orc-blooded brothers, “Listen here Gronk and Frak. I’ll not have trouble in the Roadhouse tonight. Especially against someone who’s not been here before. This ain’t no way to treat a new customer and for my sake I expect you to put him down.”Before Gronk or Frak could reply, a sweet voice originated from directly behind Gronk. “You’ll let the boy down onto the stool and release him. You’re going to let him come and sit at our table so he can leave you and your brother alone for the rest of the night. That way, you can enjoy your potatoes and ale and forget this ever happened.” The voice was soothing in its slow and convincing speech.Gronk did as the voice said. He released Semeion back to the seat on the stool. Semeion quickly scrambled off of the seat as Gronk turned to face his challenger. Semeion and Gronk both saw Rhema for the first time as she boldly stood less than 3 feet from the much taller Gronk. The massive orc-blooded man dwarfed the delicately framed Rhema.Gronk rejected Rhema out of hand immediately upon seeing her. “Bah. What do you think you were going to be able to do to me, woman? I should throw you outside just for interrupting my fun.”Semeion attempted to prepare himself to recall his arcane powers should this situation turn ugly. Ischarus, however, remained seated at the table and snuck a few of Rhema’s potatoes while she was otherwise distracted. He smirked at the orc-blooded man’s challenge.Rhema smiled once more and her delicate lips parted slightly as she prepared to speak. “Listen, Gronk. We’re all here to just enjoy ourselves and enjoy a good meal. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be eating some of Archis’ potatoes right now than being involved in this little altercation.” Her voice remained calm in spite of the obvious physical treat.Gronk sneered at the smaller woman and his left hand reached for the axe on his side. Rhema lifted her index finger to her temple and Gronk immediately dropped to his knees well before he could securely reach his weapon. As Rhema focused in on Gronk, the half-orc man cried out after being brought to his knees. “Stop, lady! Gronk just want have fun with lady. Gronk not really hurt lady.”Rhema smiled. “I thought you would see it my way,” she said as she removed her finger from her temple. “Now stand up like the good fighter than you are. Turn around and sit down onto the stool. Enjoy those potatoes and that ale of yours. Most importantly, forget that this ever happened.”Gronk wordlessly obeyed Rhema’s commands, appearing as if he feared another one of the woman’s silent attacks. Rhema reached out a welcoming hand to Semeion and said, “Hey, why don’t you come over here and join my friend and myself. You can sit with us and tell us a little bit about yourself.”Semeion returned Rhema’s smile and replied, “You know, I think I’d like that. This is my first time being in here, if you couldn’t tell.”Rhema closed her fingers around Semeion’s hand and led him back to the table. “Really,” she replied as though she hadn’t considered the fact that Semeion appeared out of his normal routine, “I would have never noticed myself.”As Semeion approached the table, Ischarus got a better look at the young mage and smiled as he approached. “Welcome, friend.” He added, forgetting that Rhema’s fork was still in his hand.“Hey!” interjected Rhema. “You were eating my potatoes while I was helping this poor lad try and find a place to sit. I can’t believe you are that kind of an opportunist.” Rhema’s speech took on a slightly fake wounded tone as she winked at Semeion.Ischarus rose up out of his seat and reached across the table to put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright; I’ll go get another plate for our guest, here. I’m sure that he might enjoy the food and I bet he’d be willing to share. You know, unlike some people I know. Besides, I think that I owe him a plate of potatoes.” Ischarus played with Rhema's mind as his eyes danced in a slight eye roll.Rhema only laughed in return. “You do that, you noble man. Go get food for your guest and when you come back perhaps he will grace us with his tale.” She turned and looked into Semeion’s eyes.Ischarus returned quickly with a plate of potatoes and a glass of water with lime in it. Semeion readily accepted the plate of potatoes and chuckled to himself when he received the glass of water with lime. The chuckle inspired Ischarus to inquire about the response from Semeion. “Inside joke you’d care to let us in on?” Ischarus added a friendly smile as he inquired of Semeion’s chuckle.Semeion shook his head from side to side as he stuffed a potato into his mouth. “No, no secret, really. Just something someone I knew used to say to me. He would always advise against me getting ale to drink. He said it was a bad combination with being able to think straight and maintain control.”Ischarus replied with a wink to Rhema. “Sound advice if you ask me. I know my friend here won’t let me touch the stuff either.” Ischarus left a wink for Rhema; Rhema merely rolled her eyes at the gesture and the remark.Rhema replied, “Don’t let Ischarus kid you. He wouldn’t touch the stuff even if you put it right in front of him. He doesn’t care for the taste if you ask me. But if you ask him it is a control issue. He doesn’t like to carry a sword that’s able to separate a person’s head from their shoulders and not be in control of his decision making at all times.”Semeion looked to Ischarus and then quickly back to the potatoes. Lifting the glass of water with the lime in it he adds, “Yeah. Sounds a lot like my master’s advice.” Semeion’s tone took on a sorrowful tone with this last expression.Rhema picked up on the tone and continued, “I’m Rhema, by the way. Good to meet you. If you don’t mind me asking I noticed a bit of hurt in that tone of yours when you talk about your master. You mind if I ask why?”Semeion chocked back the emotion as he tried to relay the story of his master’s tragic demise. As part of the story, Semeion told about how he came back into town, almost caused an accident, and visited his master’s widow just before coming to the Cachinnating Roadhouse. A sheepish grin crossed over Ischarus’ face as Semeion talked. After telling the story Semeion looked at Ischarus and could feel his inner turmoil being eased merely by telling the story. Inquiring of the sheepish grin Semeion asked, “What’s so funny?”Semeion couldn’t help but laugh a little bit over Ischarus’ silly grin. His body relished the brief opportunity to laugh after the last two days of pain. Ischarus replied, “Well, I thought when I first saw you that I owed you a plate of potatoes.”Semeion looked to Ischarus and laughed a couple more times and replied, “What do you mean?” Rhema seconded Semeion’s inquiry with an inquisitive look of her own.“Well,” continued Ischarus while looking to Rhema. “Remember when I returned to the stables and said I was delayed on my trip home because I nearly was run over by a carriage and in the process of steering Elistra away I nearly ran over a cloaked person? Well, I believe our cloaked person has found me in return!”Semeion couldn’t believe his ears. He looked down to his plate of potatoes in sheer embarrassment. Ischarus and Rhema both noticed his body language and Rhema replied, “Hey, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” Ischarus added, “Indeed. If anyone should be embarrassed it should be me for nearly running Elistra into you!”Semeion looked up and shook his head. “You two are amazing. I embarrass myself in front of each of you and you make a point to make me feel better.” A slight smile returned to his face as he spoke.Rhema reached out with her delicate fingers and lifted his chin so that she looked straight into his eyes. “Now you listen to me, Semeion. You’ve nothing to apologize for. You’ve lost your master and had a lot on your mind. I’m actually impressed with your behavior and think it has been incredibly mature. In all actuality, I think your master was right in that you were ready to strike out on your own.”Her confidence seemed to stream from her eyes as well as through her touch and into his body. “Thanks,” was all that Semeion could muster.Ischarus grinned with a bright idea. “In fact, if you’ve got nothing else to fill your time, I think we could use a person of your type on our quests. We could use a person with your talents. You know how to ride well?”Semeion replied, “Well, I do know how to ride but it’s been a while. Unfortunately I don’t have a horse of my own. But I might be interested in finding something new to occupy my time. What is it that you guys do with your time?”Rhema smiled and turned to Ischarus and replied, “I’ll let you handle this.”Ischarus looked into Semeion’s eyes and added with a straight face. “We traffic women across the border out of Quehalost and into Tongra.”Semeion responded in complete surprise. “You go into Quehalost? By yourselves?” After a few moments Semeion’s expression turned to utter confusion and he added, “You traffic women?”Rhema burst out into laughter and Ischarus began to chuckle as well. “Technically we traffic women, children, and men across the border. We don’t really care about age or gender. You see, there are many people trapped within that evil land that simply do not know anything but pain, torture, abuse, and physical labor through slavery. It’s my job to go in and bring people out into freedom. I’ve been doing it for about two years now. Rhema here has been my assistant for almost all of that time.”Rhema interjected, “Yeah, my dad operated one of the safe houses that Ischarus brought his freed passengers to. My dad helps them learn a new culture and find employment so that they can stand on their own feet. When Ischarus brought his first rescue back it was a beautiful red haired Drakontos girl who was to be a sacrifice to the ancient wyrm that they served. It took a long time to break her of her belief that she could be anything but a sacrifice so that the dragon wouldn’t destroy their village. It took several months, but my dad and I did it. I learned that I have a real passion for dealing with people – in more ways than one. I like helping people and building them up. So when Ischarus returned a second time with two men that he had saved I volunteered to join him. He knew about my gifts and admitted that while I was a bit on the frail side that my silver tongue would really make his work easier. Since then we’ve been partners. He swore to my father to protect me, but I end up saving more often than not.”Ischarus looked at Rhema with a look that spoke more than simple appreciation while she told her story. After a few seconds he realized Rhema stopped talking and he brought himself back into reality. He picked up the conversation where Rhema had left off. “Ah, yeah. You’ll notice that I didn’t bother getting up to protect her from that half-orc over there. Rhema doesn’t look like much, but if she can get into your mind before you can draw a weapon she’ll win every time. She didn’t need my protection, though I’d have generously offered it.”Semeion looked at Ischarus and then back to Rhema. “You guys are serious? You venture into Quehalost regularly and return alive? Wow, that’s amazing. And to think of putting your talents to good use like that. I think I could definitely be interested in helping you all out. If you’ll have me, that is. Well, I’d at least like to go along once and see what happens.”Ischarus put his hand on Semeion’s shoulder. “Well, Rhema and I were going to head out of town for Quehalost tomorrow morning. I think we could afford to stay in town for another day to let you think things through and give you a chance to think about it. We’d need to find you a horse, but that wouldn’t be much trouble. You got any money, Semeion?”“I have a little. Probably not enough to buy a horse, though. But I can pay my own nights and meals and stuff.” Semeion’s excited tone illustrated that he began to think highly of this possibility. He longed to set his life in a new direction given that his life in Reignsburg had just lost momentum. This would be a new direction and a chance to do something good in his life. This would be a way to make Master Sathwright’s death have meaning. Semeion made up his mind. He would ride with them if he could find a horse.“I’ll … uh. I’ll think about it.” Semeion said with a smile on his face. “Can I meet you here for lunch tomorrow and let you know for sure?”Rhema let out a little squeal of delight. Ischarus rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Lunch will be fine. Just in case I’ll talk to the stable master where we board Elistra and Shauvry and see if he knows of a few horses we might go look at come tomorrow afternoon. You know, of course, if you’re still interested.”Semeion said, “Yeah. I think that should work. I’ll let you know tomorrow then.” A broad smile crossed his face as he finished the last of his potatoes. He looked down as his fork scraped across the metal plate. “Oh. It looks like I didn’t leave any to share,” Semeion confided.Rhema laughed. “That’s all right. I’m sure you can pay us back sometime.” Rhema winked at Semeion and leaned back in her chair with a contented look upon her face. The three sat around the table for another hour talking about the past adventures of Rhema and Ischarus before returning to their homes for the night.[/Sblock]</blockquote>

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